Night Life

Performer: Ray Price
Artist: Willie Nelson; Buddy Emmons; Floyd Cramer; Johnny Paycheck
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Personnel: Ray Price (vocals, guitar); Arthur E. "Art" Bishop, Ray Edenton, Darrell McCall, Willie H. Nelson, Herman B. "Pete" Wade, Grover "Shorty" Lavender, Thomas Grady Martin, Donald "Donnie Young", "Johnny Paycheck" Lytle (guitar); Buddy Gene Emmons, James Clayton "Jimmy" Day (steel guitar); Byron T. Bach, Brenton Bolden Banks, George T. Binkley II, Cecil L. Brower, Howard R. Carpenter, Lillian Vann Hunt, Vernal E. Richardson (violin); Thomas Lee "Tommy" Jackson Jr. (fiddle); Floyd Cramer, Hargus M. "Pig" Robbins (piano); Joseph S. Zinkan (acoustic bass); Harold Ray Bradley (electric bass); Stephan F. "Steve" Bess, Murray M. "Buddy" Harmon Jr. (drums). Producers: Don Law, Frank Jones. Reissue producer: Barry Feldman. Recorded at Bradley Studios & Columbia Studios, Nashville, Tennessee from January 1961-February 1963. Originally released on Columbia (8771). Includes liner notes by The Hound. All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology. Ray Price's first dozen years of recorded material (1951-1963) are considered his best by most country purists. NIGHT LIFE is one of the last great albums of this period, and here begins Price's transition from honky-tonk singer to balladeer. Recorded over a stretch of three years ('61-'63), this album is special for many reasons. First of all, it features the original version of the Willie Nelson tune "Night Life," which is now a country classic. The album also includes inspired versions of "The Wild Side of Life" and the great Hank Thompson shuffle, "A Girl in the Night," among others. Moreover, there are great performances by steel guitarist Buddy Emmons and guitarist Johnny Paycheck, who would both become country superstars in their own right. Featuring songs of hardship and hard living, each tune on NIGHT LIFE addresses archetypal country music themes such as loneliness, sorrow, and alcohol abuse. Largely lyric-driven, this album is the perfect late-night record for anybody who's suffered the pain of love's defeat.

Texan country singer Ray Price got the best possible start by having Hank Williams himself for a mentor. After Williams's death, Price began using Hank's Drifting Cowboys as a backup band and performing in a remarkably similar style. After putting together a new band to find his own sound, he essentially invented the 4/4 country shuffle, replacing the traditional country 2/4 beat. This combination of honky-tonk and Western Swing both influenced a whole school of country and helped pave the way for rockabilly. Besides his voluminous body of solo work, Price was also known for his latter-day collaborations with Willie Nelson, whose "Night Life" had been an early-'60s Price hit.

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